Review: Big Rock Rye & Ginger Ale

Another Big Rock specialty beer has made it to the Manitoba market. This time? Big Rock Rye and Ginger Ale. A combination of two classic prairie drinks, a rye whisky with ginger ale and BEER! Mix these two together and you prairie it up with the Rye & Ginger Ale beer. Better idea than the Bud Light Chelada, which is another prairie tradition (beer + clamato juice + seasoning on top of glass).

This combination is something that I can see being a bit popular in the warm spring and summer patio evenings.

Appearance: Pours a slightly orangey amber ale colour, quite usual from a Big Rock beer. The head is minimal (if at all), a bit of white foam, but it's not going anywhere.

Aroma: A bit of the usual "Big Rock Beer" aroma that you get in EVERY Big Rock Beer. There's a slight scent of ginger in there, but really - not much at all. Very simple.

Taste: All I can think about this is that "this is a Big Rock Beer", if I didn't know what the label was, I would just assume it was an amber ale by Big Rock. A bit of a sweet caramelly maltiness, that you see in lots of Big Rock's beers, as well as a ever-so-minimal amount of ginger. The only ginger I've been noticing is when it hits the roof of my mouth. The more I drink this Rye & Ginger Ale, the aftertaste of ginger ale actually does start to linger around the palate.

Overall Thoughts: I was expecting two things: 1) Rye and 2) Ginger. Aside from the hint of caramel coming from the malts, there was NOTHING close to rye whisky in this beer at all. On the other hand, the Ginger is there but mostly as n aftertaste. I was hoping more flavour/oomph from Big Rock for this beer, but when this beer has an ABV of only 5%, they can't really do much. How about next time do a Rye and Ginger Ale that's actually stronger?

All that being said, I really did enjoy drinking this beer. It's nice and sweet, and something that you can drink on the patio very easily on a hot summer day. It costs $2.06 for a 341mL bottle and has an abv of 5%

A few new beers coming to Manitoba (or just came here) in the next few weeks include: Tree Character Pack which includes 2 beers available here, and two not available here (Madcap Belgian White - I was hoping for a Hop Head). Two beers from Muskoka including Mad Tom IPA (which I've heard is quite splendid) and Spring Oddity, which I have no clue what to expect.. hopefully it's great! Lastly, a few beers from Brick Brewing, a Dark which I am assuming is the Waterloo Dark, an Amber. It may turn out to be the Seasonal Collection but I guess we'll wait and see. Cheers!

Cody Lobreau

Welcome to BeerCrank.ca! I'm a bit obsessed about craft beer, especially Canadian craft beer so I mainly review Canadian beer but I love to try beer from all over the world as well. My goal is to help influence the casual beer drinker to go out and expand their beer palate one way or another. Feel free to send some feedback!
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